So far, Microsoft has been very tight-lipped about Windows 7, carefully trying to prevent another Longhorn PR disaster where the company promised the heavens and more for Longhorn, but in the end ditched Longhorn to make way for Vista. Chris Flores (Windows Client Communications Team) as well as Steven Sinofsky, has broken the silence a little bit to talk about Windows 7. In addition, it is believed Windows 7 will make its first official debut at the D6 All Things Digital conference today, during a keynote held by Steve Ballmer and Bill Gates.

But I don't see your connection between the OS that's in your cash register and your desktop OS and why you'd have to upgrade your cash register or your business processes if you upgrade your desktop.

Your overall point is true, but you're missing a few things. All these systems run on conventional, if modified desktop OSes. I was surpirsed to see a Wal-Mart register reboot with Windows. Working Air Traffic, most run Windows. A few years ago, I programmed LMR radios. These used a regular laptop with a serial port and 16-bit DOS app to reprogram the radios. We could get around the DOS mode, but more importantly, serial ports became harder to find and serial-USB adapters don't always work out depending on the app. Our paging system was the same way. Once manufacturer EoL was reached, we would have to upgrade the rack of paging servers to a whole new system or make our own systems if something failed. Making our own was cheaper, but not always possible.

For many businesses, esp small technical ones, it gets hard to keep up with the technological pace. You spend thousands of dollars on test equipment and the PCs used to interface/ manage them are past EoL. Then the current PCs need modding or you have to buy all new test equipment. Schools and small businesses are always cash strapped.

Many enterprises use in-house apps. If the OS changes, then the business has to either rewrite the app or not upgrade their system.

Virtualization is not a panacea as users of OS X Classic Mode know well enough. Windows does pretty good supporting 16-bit apps, but it's not all roses there either.